Pretty delicious tasting and trendy Japanese sweets "Anmitsu Yokan" with step by step photo instructions for making Hinamatsuri at home.
Prep Time: 30 minutesmins
Cook Time: 20 minutesmins
setting in fridge: 1 hourhr
Total Time: 1 hourhr50 minutesmins
Equipment
1 yokan setting mold 6 x 6 inch(15x15cm)
Ingredients
Yokan
1cupwater
½tspkanten powder*1
250gAnko red bean paste*2
Anmitsu Toppings
½cupShiratamako(glutinous rice flour) *3 60g
2ozsilken tofu or water*4
1tspbeetroot juice *5
1canmandarin
2packetsroasted chestnuts
1/2cupMatcha kanten*6
Instructions
Dissolve the kanten powder in the water, boil in a saucepan over high heat.
When boiling, turn the heat off and add red bean paste.
Stir the bean paste in with a wooden spatula and put it back on heat.
Once boiling, turn the heat off and pour the mixture into a mold.
Leave to cool at room temperature for 10-15 min.
Make Shiratama dango
Place glutinous rice flour (Shiratamako) into a bowl.
Add water or tofu gradually to make a dough of ear lobe softness.
Divide the dough into two equal balls and make one pink coloured by adding beetroot juice or food colouring.
Make small balls out of those two coloured doughs.
Boil water and cook those balls till they float the surface of the boiling water.
Remove the cooked balls into a bowl of cold water.
Drain the cold water and set aside.
Assemble
Place larger surface ingredients such as mandarin first on top of half solidified yokan mixture.
Scatter all anmitsu topping ingredients and refrigerate it till set.
Notes
*1 Kanten powder often comes in 4g stick sachet. I used half of it (2g) which is equivalent to 1/2 tsp. *2 I used a store bought paket of Anko red bean paste (coarse) 8.8oz(250g). If you can not access any Japanese grocery shops, make it from scratch using this recipe.*3,4 As each brand of tofu contains different amounts of moisture, in general you need about same amount of tofu or water, but add them gradually to make the dough as soft as ear lobe consistency. *5 This can be replaced with 1-2 drops of red food colouring. *6 see this post for the recipe